A district and session court at Datia on Monday awarded capital punishment to the accused in the case of rape and murder of a six-year- old girl.
The judgment will set a benchmark owing to its speedy trial, which was completed within a week (between July 15 and 19).
A police
chalan in the case was produced in court on June 20.

Around 22 witnesses were examined during the course of trial.

District and session court judge Rajeev Sharma pronounced the accused Kamlesh Kushwaha ( 26) guilty of the crime and awarded him the death penalty.

According to government council Rajendra Tiwari the double bench in high court will fix the schedule for hanging after scrutinising the verdict.

The incident occurred on April 18.

The accused who was acquainted with the victim’s family took the child away on pretext of showing some religious procession.

Next morning, the girl’s body was found in a field on the village outskirts. Subsequently, the victim’s father Gulzar Singh approached the police.

The Goraghat police station in Datia district registered a case under Sections 302, 376 ( a), 201, 363, 366 ( a) of IPC & Section 4 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act 2012 against Kushwaha and launched a manhunt.

Kushwaha alias Ghanti was arrested by police on April 20 following raid in nearby villages.

A total 21 injury marks along with serious injuries inflicted on the victim’s private parts were reported in the autopsy report.